soiled your shirt?

[curiousmarcus]

After leaving a toddler to eat by himself, you come back to see a mess. His shirt has food (and maybe his drink too) all over it.

Referring to what he did to his shirt, which is the most natural thing to say?

You soiled your shirt.
You dirtied your shirt.
You spilled on your shirt.

 

[emsr2d2]

I doubt many people are too worried about grammar at this point and they wouldn't be so formal. I would expect to hear something like "Ohhhh, look at you! Your shirt is covered in food. You messy thing!" Or the less cheerful "Oh. Great. Right, those clothes are coming off and going straight in the wash".

 

[GoesStation]

Setting aside the question of whether you should talk to a toddler that way, sentences 1 and 2 are grammatical. 3 is not.

In AmE we might say You got your shirt dirty.

 

[curiousmarcus]

Setting aside the question of whether you should talk to a toddler that way, sentences 1 and 2 are grammatical. 3 is not.

Is it because sentence 3 didn't specify what got spilled?

 

[Tarheel]

Is it because sentence 3 didn't specify what got spilled?

That's very close. Perhaps:

You spilled your drink on your shirt.

 

[GoesStation]

Is it because sentence 3 didn't specify what got spilled?

Yes.

 

[jutfrank]

We might also say something like, "You've got (it) all down you."

 

[curiousmarcus]

We might also say something like, "You've got (it) all down you."

Never heard this phrase before.

 

[Tarheel]

That's British English, I think. I might say (for example):

You've got spaghetti sauce all over you.

 

[Tdol]

All over you works fine in British English too.